The European Union is set to propose creating a shadow system to get around a US block on appeals in disputes at the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to a draft proposal circulated to national lawmakers.

The International Monetary Fund has lowered its forecast for economic growth in the global economy as the trade conflict between the USA and China becomes a real threat. But the situation in Europe is not exactly rosy either. EURACTIV Germany’s media partner WirtschaftsWoche reports.

The United States has supplanted Brazil as the European Union’s top supplier of soybeans since a deal in July with President Donald Trump to avert a trade war, according to EU data seen by Reuters on Thursday (20 September).

The US said on Wednesday (15 August) the EU and four of its planemaker states have failed to bring subsidies for Airbus into line with a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling of last May, an accusation refuted by the EU.

German Socialist MEP Udo Bullmann praised the EU and US talks on trade relations. But in an interview with EURACTIV media partner Der Tagesspiegel, he also insisted that "we do not live in a command economy" and warned that the European Parliament will have to be involved with any future talks.

The EU will respond to any provocation coming from the US on trade or any other matter, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned on Wednesday (18 July) ahead of his trip to Washington to meet Donald Trump next week.

The EU and China said on Friday (1 June) they would expand trade and investment cooperation amid the global trade dispute triggered by US tariffs. But as part of the efforts to address outstanding trade disputes, Europe will present a complaint before the World Trade Organisation against China’s intellectual property practices.

China on Wednesday (30 October) has relaunched a long-running dispute with the European Union over steel bolts and screws, complaining that Brussels has not brought anti-dumping measures on the product into line with a trade panel ruling.

Russia suspended imports of dairy products from neighbouring Lithuania today (7 October), turning up trade pressure on the small Baltic country ahead next months's summit in Vilnius, where the bloc is expected to sign a key trade pact with Ukraine.

The Commission’s decision to launch trade action against China in the solar-power sector will not bring any relief to India, argues Suparna Karmakar, a trade economist and visiting fellow with Brussels-based think tank Bruegel.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht bluntly told China and leading European states that they were wasting their time trying to put pressure on him to drop plans to impose punitive import duties on Chinese solar panels.

The European Union filed a suit against Argentina's import restrictions with the World Trade Organization (WTO) today (25 May), intensifying the disputes between the South American nation and its trading partners.

After months of silent scramble, a battle between the EU and the US on IT customs tariffs erupted after Washington decided to file a formal complaint to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against European duties on certain high tech goods, including flat-screen TVs and multifunctional printers.

European biodiesel manufacturers have filed an official complaint to the Commission regarding "unfair" US biodiesel subsidies, substantiating expectations that biofuels could be at the heart of the next large-scale trade spat at the WTO.

The is still a lot of technical work to be done before the Commission makes a proposal on a possible "adjustment mechanism" to compensate EU industries which find themselves at a competitive disadvantage over countries with less stringent CO2 regulations, according to Jos Delbeke, a top official at the Commission's Environment Directorate.

Cheap imports do not pose a threat to the EU, Chinese manufacturers have insisted, as the Commission attempts to deal with an increasing number of requests to introduce punitive duties on Chinese products, allegedly dumped on EU markets at below-cost prices.